


It's a Set Up

by Katybug1992



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: F/M, female jaden schwartz, team as matchmakers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:22:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23522989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katybug1992/pseuds/Katybug1992
Summary: Six times Jaden's teammates and/or their wives tried to set her up with varying levels of success and the one time Schenner set her up with the only guy that mattered.
Relationships: Brayden Schenn & Jaden Schwartz, Jaden Schwartz/Jonathan Toews, Jaden Schwartz/Others
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	It's a Set Up

Jaden would love it if her teammates and/or their significant others would stop trying to set her up with people. Especially since she broke up with her boyfriend a couple years ago. She was fine.. It’s not like she couldn’t find a man to hook up with if she wanted to. She was more focused on hockey anyway. Her game had been analyzed harder her whole career just because she was a woman and she needed to work twice as hard to prove she deserved to be there. She didn’t need a guy. It’s not like she didn’t have her pick when she went out. It’s not like she didn’t hook-up. Sure, it would be nice to have someone to talk to that wasn’t her family or teammates. And, of course, it would be nice to have sex and know she was going to enjoy it and actually come rather than taking a chance on a hot guy in the bar, and the occasional NHL player who talked big game and rarely backed it up. But she was fine being single. She was. 

1.

“Jaden!” Yana grinned, opening the door and pulling her inside, “Come, I have something upstairs for you!”

Jaden shared a confused look with Vova, who shrugged but definitely looked like he was hiding something from her, as Yana pulled her up the stairs and to the master bedroom.

“What’s up?” she asked as the door was shut behind them.

Dinners with the Tarasenkos weren’t unusual. She and Vova had been consistent linemates since 2013 and Jaden often took partial credit for his English.

“I got dress for you.” Yana replied.

That part was also normal. Yana had taken it upon herself to make sure that Jaden had “girl clothes” in her closet. Which - rude. Jaden had girl clothes. Not skirts or dresses. But she had, like, two pairs of dangerously tight jeans and a couple low-cut shirts and, like, a pair of heels. And, sure, she only had the heels because Yana bought them for her for Christmas one year. But that was beside the point. She had girl clothes but Yana had started adding more to her closet since the season started (Jaden knew she wasn’t imaging it when there would be something new in her closet when she would come back from a longer roadie...she regretting giving Yana a spare key, she really did).

“Yana -”

“Go try on. Take bra off.”

And the dress was shoved into her hands and she was pushed into the en suite. And Jaden was positive she could out stubborn Yana Tarasenko but she also wanted to eat tonight so she did as she was told and slid the dress on, stepping out of the bathroom so Yana could zip it. She heard the door bell and figured it was Ivan and Ksenia.

Looking in the mirror, she hated how good the dress made her look. It was strapless and went down to her mid-thigh and it made her body look incredible.

“It looks good.” Jaden admitted, “I’m gonna go change back -”

“Nope.” Yana swept her over to the vanity and sat her down, pulling her hair out of the ponytail.

“What’s happening right now?” Jaden asked.

“You need hair and make-up done.” Yana replied like it was obvious.

“Why?”

“To get full effect.”

“But, dinner.”

“Not for another hour.”

Jaden sighed, resigning herself to letting Yana do what she wanted to do and zoned out, letting her mind drift. 

When she zoned back in, her hair was in gentle waves and her make-up was done perfectly and far more intricately than she would ever do on her own. She was also now wearing black heels that she didn’t remember putting on. She coughed as Yana sprayed a little perfume on her and the doorbell went off again.

“What’s going on?” Jaden asked, narrowing her eyes at Yana.

“Nothing.” Yana replied, pinning the strands of hair that always fall in Jaden’s face back with a black bow, “Just Artemi joining us for dinner.”

And there it is. Yana, and Vova to a lesser but more obvious extent, have been trying to convince her to meet Artemi off the ice for a couple years (since before her breakup, really) - Vladi always says he just wants two of his favorite people to be happy - and it looks like they’ve decided to trick her into it.

“Come,” Yana pulls her up, ignoring the glare, “You look good and dinner ready.”

Jaden sighs and looks at her reflection. She does look good and she kind of hates it. And these heels are too high but she doesn’t have time to try to talk Yana out of this because she’s being dragged down the hall.

“Temi!” Yana grinns, walking down the stairs to hug her husband's longtime friend and leaving Jaden at the top, by herself, to try to hobble down the stairs as gracefully as possible.

“Shut up, Barbie!” Jaden snaps as Ivan starts laughing at her and her death grip on the railing.

“Artemi, meet Jaden,” Yana smiles brightly and Jaden narrows her eyes a little at her.

“Hi.” Artemi smiled at her, holding his hand out as Jaden finally made it down the stairs.

“Hi,” Jaden returned the smile and placed her hand in his, hiding her shock when he brushed his lips over her knuckles and then glaring at Ivan again as he seemed to choke on a laugh. 

She was prevented from having to say anything when Aleksandr saw her and ran over, “Jada pretty!”

“Thank you, munchkin.” Jaden grinned down at Sasha, slowly sinking down to his level and hugging him, balanced precariously on her heels.

“Sit by me?”

“Jaden’s going to sit by your Uncle Artemi tonight.” Yana responded.

“She is?” Jaden asked at the same time as Aleksandr.

“Yes, she is.” Yana gave Jaden a pointed look, before turning her gaze to Sasha, “So she can get to know him a bit.”

“Fine.” Sasha sighed.

Jaden slowly rose back up, stumbling only a little and well aware of where Panarin’s gaze was focused. She flipped Barbie off as he took a picture that she knew would end up in the group chat. She made sure to punch his shoulder, hard, as she passed him and ignored the “Oh, my God, you’re wearing bow!” and the sound of the camera going off again. 

“I will have Steener assign you bag skates, don’t think I won’t.” She threatened, turning her head to glare, her heel-induced wobbled lessening the effect somewhat.

“She will.” Vova laughed, “Steener do it if she ask.”

Artemi is a sweet guy. He really is. And he’s cute. She asks him how he likes Columbus and he attempts to focus on her eyes and face when she talks even if his gaze does fall to her cleavage occasionally. She and Vova only have one of their dumb arguments (which she wins, thank you very much) and after the food is done she politely asks Yana if she can, please, go change. She’s told to wait until after dessert since she’d probably try to avoid wearing a dress for the next several months. 

Ivan snorts when Jaden tries to subtly tug the top of the dress up and then hisses when she kicks him, hard, in the shin while taking a sip of the wine that Yana had put in front of her. 

When they finish eating, Ksenia leads her into the living room, apologizing for Ivan, and Aleksandr scrambles onto Jaden’s lap and Mark takes the seat next to her and she immediately asks him how his hockey season is going. She listens to him intently as he basically gives her a play-by-play of his last game, running one of her hands repeatedly through Sasha’s hair to keep him from squirming and interrupting.

She’s so focused on the Tarasenko kids that she doesn’t see the way Panarin is looking at her, all soft and in awe in a way that she is not used to guys looking at her (not sense the breakup the previous season) and would turn her beat red if she saw it.

Her focus only moved off of the kids when Yana told Sasha it was bedtime and then told Jaden she could go change and to keep the dress.

When Jaden came back downstairs, face cleared of makeup, hair in a ponytail, in her jeans, fitted t, and converse the look of awe that had been on Panarin’s face was gone and she tried not to be surprised. She tried not to be too disappointed. It wouldn’t be the first time a guy had been disappointed in what she normally looked like.

She kisses Yana and Ksenia cheeks, saying, “I better head home. Schenner’s having a crisis.”

Vova doesn’t buy it, Ivan doesn’t know if he buys it, but they’re the only one. She and Vladi fist bump and she punches Ivan’s arm one last time (he had expressed shock that she wasn’t wearing hoodie) before slipping her coat on and leaving.

“Everything alright?” Yana asked, placing her hand on Vova’s elbow.

“Yes,” Vladi responded, “Schenner overdramatic, Jaden indulge him.”

He gives Ivan a look telling him to follow along, even if the younger Russian didn’t need that guidance, both of them seeing the quick change and the reason why. Vova resigned himself to his liney and best friend not falling in love at first sight.

“Lost chance, bud.” Vladi pats Panarin on the arm in sympathy, “We tried.”

2.

Saski Night was a tradition Bozie and Molly (mostly Molly) had established within a week of them coming to St. Louis. Sometimes it was dinner out, sometimes it was going over to one of their houses, but it was a night that Jaden, Brayden, Kelsey, Bozie, and Molly all got together and all talk of hockey was forbidden under the pain of Molly publically calling them out on Twitter.

Jaden doesn’t sense the possibility of trap even if the Leafs are in town. She also just assumes that Brayden and Kelsey are running late because Brayden believes that time is a construct when it doesn’t relate to hockey. But then she walks into the house and there’s Imos and four Maple Leafs in the living room. 

“Hi.” she greets.

“Jay!” Molly grins, “You’re here!”

“I am.” Jaden nods, walking further into the house, hanging up her coat and slipping her shoes off, scooping up Kanon as he runs over, “Like I said I would be. Because it’s a Friday night that we’re in town.”

Molly laughs and Jaden’s eyes narrow, “What are you planning?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Molly laughs, “Jaden, I know you know who they are already but that’s Freddie, Mitchie, and Auston and this is Morgan.”

And Jaden knows that look and she knows that tone of voice. And she’s tempted to put her shoes back on and leave. And sensing this, Molly immediately pulls her further into the house and over to the couches, where Blake is playing on the ground and Jaden is weak to kids and all of her teammates use this to their advantage - it was amazing how quick the Bozaks were to catch onto that.

“At least you’re not forcing me into a dress.” she muttered as she sat down.

Molly laughed, “But you looked so beautiful.”

“And Barbie had some very impressive bruises the next day.” Tyler grinned

“He wouldn’t have gotten those if he could contain his laughter better.” Jaden sniffed.

“He isn’t used to seeing you actually dressing like the hot woman you are.” Molly replied, “And I’m not heartbroken Yana failed. You don’t need a Russian. You need a nice, sweet, Canadian man.”

Morgan went completely red as Molly placed her hands on his shoulders and his teammates didn’t even try to hide their snickers.

“Hi, Morgan.” Jaden gave him a soft smile to attempt to ease his embarrassment at Molly’s more than obvious intention, “I’m Jaden.”

“I know,” Morgan replied, managing to go even redder, “I mean, I obviously know who you are. I mean, it’s kind of hard to miss you. On the ice! Not that you’re not very - I’m gonna go get a beer.”

Jaden hid her smile behind Kanon’s head. 

“Be nice.” Bozie hissed at her as he handed her a glass of white wine.

“I’m being nice.” Jaden defended herself against this slander, “I’m always nice. I’m a pleasure.”

“Yeah, sure you are.” Tyler grinned back at her.

“I am.” 

“Sure. I mean, you’ve only made one dude cry in a bar.”

“If he had backed off when I asked him to, I wouldn’t have had to make him cry.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s not my fault guys are disgusting.”

“Agreed.” Mitchie responded from her spot between Matthews and Anderssen, both of who gave her slightly offended looks, “What? Do you know what I go through every time we go out? Why do you think I don’t go up to the bar alone?”

“Because you end up with a hand on your ass and a loser breathing your neck.” Jaden replied, tipping her glass toward Mitchie.

“Exactly.” Mitchie returned the gesture.

“Kelsey and I have an agreement that if I ever need to sell that I have a boyfriend to keep a guy from pressing, I can make out with Schenner. Thankfully, I haven’t had to use it.”

“Because you like making people cry.” Tyler responded.

“Only douchebags.”

“The plus to having an overprotective boyfriend on my team is that he’s quick to jump in,” Mitchie smiled over at Matthews, “Even if he doesn’t always need to.”

“Every guy that hits on you has, like, forty pounds on you.” Auston replied.

“Dude, every person, like, ever has forty pounds on me.” Mitchie responded.

“Mitchie, the wind could knock you over,” Freddie replied, looking fond.

“Mitchie, the wind HAS knocked you over.” Morgan tagged on, reentering the room.

“TO BE FAIR, Willy said that I could not walk in those shoes and I wanted to prove him wrong. But I underestimated how strong the wind would be in Chicago.”

“You underestimated how strong the wind would be in The Windy City?” Jaden asked slowly.

“In my defense we don’t go to Chicago as often as you do.” Mitchie responded.

“Its nickname is the Windy City.”

“Yes, but I didn’t think it would be that bad. And then the Dagger Heels threw me off-balance as well. It was a combination of the wind and the shoes.” Mitchie took a sip of her beer.

“Kanon, why don’t you give Jaden a break?” Molly asked.

“No,” Kanon shook his head, “wan’ Jada.”

Jaden laughed gently, pushing his hair back a bit, “What’d you do today, bud?”

And Jaden listened as he babbled back at her. She didn’t even notice that Molly had somehow gotten everyone else out of the room until she looked up when Kanon had chattered himself to sleep and it was just her and Morgan. 

“You’re really good with him.” Morgan whispered, not wanting to wake the toddler.

“He’s easy compared to Pear and Vladi’s kiddos.” Jaden replied.

“He calls you ‘Jada’?”

“He picked it up from Sasha - Vladi’s kid. He had a hard time saying ‘Jaden’, so he started calling me ‘Jada’ and some of the other kids picked up on it as well.”

“If it makes you feel better, she ambushed me with this as well.” Morgan smiled sweetly and blushed a nice shade of pink.

“At least she’s better at it than Yana.” Jaden responded with a laugh.

“Tell me about it.” 

And Jaden did, launching into the whole story about the attempted set up with Panarin and how that had ended. Every detail of that night came pouring out of her and Morgan was genuinely interested and was focused on just her.

“So,” Jaden took a breath as she wrapped up, “what’s your craziest ‘teammate-tried-to-set-me-up-because-they-decided-it-was-time-for-you-to-move-on’ story?”

And Morgan responded with a story involving Naz setting him up on a sushi date without knowing that the friend of his wife was allergic to fish.

“I left my number with her but I guess I wasn’t really expecting the woman I had to take to the ER to call me.” Morgan finishes.

Jaden laughed, eyes bright and smiling widely.

Dinner goes well, they play a very subtle game of footsie under the table and subtly exchange numbers when no one is looking.

And Jaden doesn’t really remember the details of how - she was totally sober, it just went by super quick - she ends up in Mo’s hotel room and she’s making out with one of the nicest guys in hockey. And then she’s going three rounds with one of the nicest guys in hockey before pretty much passing out in his arms.

They go one more round in the morning before she’s slipping on her clothes from the night before and slipping out of his room with just enough time to go home and shower before she has to leave for practice. And she knows that more than one Leaf saw her, Matthews seemed to choke a bit as she passed him when she stepped out of the elevator.

“Matty texted me,” Tyler greeted with a grin, not really caring that half the team was in the locker room as well, “Half the Leafs saw your little Walk of Shame.”

“It’s only a Walk of Shame if the sex was bad.” Jaden replied, standing up, “And the sex was very good.”

She’s out of the locker room before anyone can say anything, but she does hear Robbi cackling.

After practice, she has a text from Molly about when she can start planning the wedding. Jaden rolls her eyes. She and Morgan would be text buddies, hook-up buddies, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to jump into a long distance relationship after one night of amazing sex. 

Jaden gets two goals that night and her team gets a much needed win. And she and Morgan meet up one more time for a quickie before he has to get on the bus.

3.

Dunner tries to set her up with a DJ. Jaden doesn’t even entertain that bullshit. She’s already dated two DJs and that is two DJs too many.

4.

Jaden steps out of the Uber at the restaurant Bozie texted her to meet him at. They had finished morning skate, like, an hour ago so she didn’t know why she was meeting him anywhere.

She walks in and finds Bozie pretty early and sees that Bozie is not alone. James van Riemsdyk is with him. And this isn’t like with Dunner. She can’t just shut him down right away. Because this is Bozie and he WILL tell Molly and then Molly will retaliate by forcing Jaden to go shopping with her and Yana. And Kelsey wouldn’t even be able to step in (because Kelsey was engaged to Schenner and Schenner was her Bro and has always been which is the only reason Kelsey tries to rescue Jaden from those kinds of situations). It was a Saski thing. Not really, but Jaden let Molly get away with it.

“I’m supposed to be taking a nap.” Jaden flopped down. A small lie. They were playing the next day, so it wasn’t urgent but she had been looking forward to flopping down face-first on her bed and pulling the duvet over her head and not coming out until Schenner let himself into her room because he was bored and melodramatic. 

It was going to be a nice afternoon before she went out with some of the guys. They were meeting Larry Flowers at some sports bar that - from the sounds of it - was definitely connected to mob. Maybe she would accidentally-on-purpose hook-up with a lower level dude or a son of a higher up.

Point is, she could be napping.

“You need lunch, anyway,” Bozie responds, “This is James. He was my liney in Toronto. Riemer, this is Jaden, the one I was telling you about.”

“What did he tell you about me?” Jaden asked, leaning forward and admiring the way James only briefly flicked his eyes down to her chest, because the girls were definitely on view. She had forgotten how low-cut the sweater she was wearing was and leaning forward didn’t help.

“That you like to make to people cry.” van Riemsdyk replied with a playful smile.

“Only when they deserve it.” Jaden smirked back, turning to Bozie she said, “You pulled me from my nap plans, you’re buying me lunch.”

“I’m introducing you to a very good, very single friend of mine.” Bozie smirked back, “You’re nap can wait.”

Jaden rolled her eyes, “You’re still buying me lunch.”

“Only if you’re nice.”

“I’m always nice.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“So, James, surely you have some embarrassing stories about Bozie here and I would love to hear them.”

Tyler’s eyes widened in horror as James grinned, leaning forward and launching into one of them many embarrassing stories and he was filled with instant regret. He should have known better. 

“Well, James, I would say this is the start of a beautiful friendship,” Jaden grinned broadly at him as he gave her his number she could keep him updated on all things Bozie related and promised to send her the various less than flattering pictures he had of Bozie.

Tyler regretted it so much.

5.

They’re in a club in Vegas and Jaden is wearing this silver cocktail dress that Schenner said made her match the Cup. The Cup that was theirs. She’s pleasantly buzzed when Eddy comes back from his most recent trip to the bar.

“Bartender thinks you’re hot.” 

“Which one?” Jaden responses, glancing over at the bar, swarmed by customers.

“The blond dude.” Eddy replied, pointing to the bartender who was looking right back at Jaden.

He’s not terrible to look at and he’ll serve his purpose for the night. She makes sure none of the guys are looking and pulls the dress down just a little and makes her way confidently to the bar.

“Hi,” she greets, yelling just a little to be heard over the noise.

“What can get you?” the bartender responds, leaning against the counter, arms flexing, and giving her a very obvious once over.

“Surprise me!” Jaden responds, twirling a strand of her hair and expecting a cosmo or some other “girly” shit to be put in front of her and is surprised when he sets two shots down.

“I saw you earlier, color me impressed.” he grinned at her, “On me.”

“When’s your shift end?”

“‘Bout thirty minutes.” He replied checking his watch.

“Come find me.”

She downed the two shots and pushed off of the bar, feeling him watching her walk away.

Thirty-five minutes later she was making-out with him on the dancefloor and then letting him pull her into the staff bathroom.

“What the hell happened to you?” Colton asked her as she met back up with the guys, definitely looking like she had just had a restroom quickie.

“Surprisingly good sex with a bartender.” she replied, grinning widely as Colton turned bright red.

6.

Jaden rolled her eyes as she got to the bar. She did not come home early from her Bye Week trip so she could be DD for her teammates participating in the All-Star Game. Uber and Lyft were invented for a reason. Still, she parked her car and walked into the Ritz, heading to the hotel bar. She expected this shit from Binner, not from O’Ry.

“Schwartzy!” Robbi grinned, catching sight of her first and quickly detaching from Matthew, who didn’t even try to hide his pout and was now getting chirped by Marner and Matthews - like they had any right to get on anyone’s case about being co-dependent.

“Hey, kid,” Jaden couldn’t contain her smile as Robbi flung her arms around her.

“What are you doing here?!”

“O’Ry called me for a ride home.”

“Why? He’s been nursing that same beer for, like, an hour.”

“Really?” Jaden raised her eyebrow. Scanning the bar she found Ryan pretty easily, sitting next to Nathan MacKinnon (“the very single Nathan MacKinnon”, she could practically HEAR Molly and Kelsey supplying), “Go back to your boy before he misses you too much.”

Robbi giggled but practically skipped back over to Matthew, sliding under his arm and kissing his cheek. It was cute. Jaden shook it off and reset.

Approaching the table, Ryan opened his mouth and Jaden cut him off, “The kid ratted you out.”

“You wouldn’t have come if I just asked you to.” O’Ry grinned, “Take a seat.”

“Why am I here?”

“Take a seat.”

“Why am I here?”

“I’ll buy you a beer.”

“Fine.” 

She slid into the booth next to O’Ry, “I look like shit right now.”

“You look like you.”

“Thanks for that!”

“I meant -”

“He meant you look comfortable,” MacKinnon interrupted, “It’s a good look on you.”

Jaden raised an eyebrow at the blond, narrowing her eyes slightly.

“Go easy on him.” Ryan elbowed her gently, “Be nice.”

“I am nice!” Jaden snapped, “And I would appreciate it if the slander stopped.”

“You made a guy cry last week.”

“I’ve only made, like, five guys cry.”

“This year, maybe.”

“If I promise not to make your friend cry, will you go get me a beer.”

“Yes.”

“Do you want me to pinky promise?”

Ryan rolled his eyes but prompted her to get up so he could get out and once he was gone, she slid back in.

“Jaden.” She held her hand out.

“Nate.” he responded, taking her hand and shaking it, “Sorry about this.”

“You wouldn’t believe how often something like this happens to me.” 

Nate laughed, “You’re teammates meddle a lot?”

“To varying degrees. Yours?”

“They want me to be happy.”

“And are you?”

“It can be lonely sometimes.”

“I know that feeling.”

She doesn’t really notice O’Ry dropping off her beer before going to pull Pear into a round of darts (mostly to keep him occupied). They talk for almost an hour and he’s nice. Nice to talk to. Nice to look at. She can easily see those arms being able to lift her like she weighed nothing.

She flicked her eyes over to the bar and shot Nate a smile, “I’ll be right back. You want another?”

“I’m good.” Nate smiled at her and she grinned.

“I’ll be right back. Promise.”

She smiled one more time before heading to the bar. She threw a subtle glance over her shoulder as she leaned on the bar and, yeah, he was looking at her ass. While a warning may have been nice, she wouldn’t have been wearing these leggings. And these leggings made her ass look good.

“Jaden,” Patrick Kane greeted, leaning casually against the bar next to her.

“Kane.” Jaden nodded.

“You look miserable.”

“You’re imagining things.”

“I know that I’m not imagining that you and Jonny broke up three years ago and neither of you have seen anyone since.”

“I’m sure he’s had hook-ups, same as me.”

“Hook-ups aren’t what I’m talking about and you know it.”

“I’m not what’s keeping him from moving on. He let me walk away.”

“He made a mistake.”

“He could have picked up his phone anytime. He hasn’t.”

“He’s hung up on you. He got plastered when he heard about you and Morgan Reilly.”

“Mo and I aren’t together.”

“That’s what I told him. But the chance that you had moved on wrecked him.”

“Do you know what wrecked me?” Jaden turned to face Patrick, her eyes flashing, “When I told him I loved him and he didn’t respond. When I walked away and he didn’t run after me. When I spent months waiting for him to call me and he didn’t. So, excuse me if I don’t feel bad for him and if I’m ready to move on.”

“And you, honestly, think MacKinnon can help you with that?”

“I honestly think that he’s a nice guy and that I’m going to spend my night talking to. Good luck this weekend. Don’t suck.”

Jaden nodded her thank you to the bartender and took her bottle back over to the table.

“Everything okay?” Nate asked, flicking his eyes over to where Kane was still looking at Jaden.

“Yeah,” Jaden shook her head and smiled, “he was just offering an opinion I didn’t ask for.”

“Toews?”

“That obvious?”

“It was a little surprising when you two broke up. But it’s been three years.”

“So everyone keeps telling me.”

“We can talk about something else, if you want.”

“Or,” Jaden lightly touched his arm, “we can finish our drinks and head back to your room and not talk?”

“We can do that.” Nate agreed quickly, blushing as she grinned.

She ignored the eyes still focused on her, Kane and O’Ry, as she downed her beer and took his offered hand, letting him pull her up and lead her toward the elevator, flipping off Pear and Binner as they wolf-whistled.

Her weekend was spent with Nathan MacKinnon, when he wasn’t on the ice. And she dropped him off at the airport, leaving him with a kiss on the cheek and a promise they would get together whenever they were in the same city again.

+1.

They’re in Chicago for their last match-up against the Blackhawks of the year and Schenner is dragging her to this restaurant he had read about on their night off. She’s bitching about the cold and complaining about the heels and dress she had been told to wear because it was apparently that kind of place.

“So, I have this friend,” Brayden whispered to her as the hostess let them to a private room in back, “and he is crazy about you.”

“Schenner.” Jaden growled, flickering her eyes to look at him as the hostess gestured for the to enter the room before sliding the door closed.

“And he knows he fucked up,” Jonathan Toews stepped forward, “and he hopes that you’ll give him an hour of your time so he can try to apologize and maybe get a second chance.”

“Why should I let him?” Jaden asked, voice soft and expression guarded.

“Because he loves you and it kills him to hear about or see you with anyone else.” Jonathan’s expression was open and his voice was raw.

“I’ll leave you two to it.” Brayden backed out of the room.

“Bray-”

“It’s, okay, Jay.” Brayden nodded reassuringly, stepping back to her to press a brief kiss to the of head, “I promise. I wouldn’t have done this if I didn't know you could handle it. If I didn’t know that he was serious. And if it’s too much, you can leave.”

Jaden nodded, watching Brayden leave before turning her gaze to Jonathan.

“I shouldn't have let you walk away.” Jonathan said as she cautiously took her seat, “I should have told you that I love you when you said it. I just… I was a dumb guy. I spent six months being envied because I managed to take you off the market. And I was too caught up in my own ego to realize that I had fallen so hard for you, Jaden. And I have spent the last three years regretting letting you go.”

“You could have called. Or texted.” Jaden replied, “I would have picked up.”

“Really?” Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

“On, like, the third call, but eventually.”

“Can we start over? I want to really date you. I want to be your boyfriend and I want to prove that I’m worthy of that title.”

“Let’s start with dinner and see how that goes.”

Jonathan grinned at her and took her hand, “I’d like that.”

Jaden looked down, hating that her hair was tied back so she couldn’t hide the blush and smile that spread across her face.

They spent the evening catching up and talking about everything they never talked about when they were together, not wanting to hold anything back if they were going to make a real go of things. And before they knew it, Jaden’s phone was chiming with a text from Brayden saying reminding her of curfew.

“I’ll walk you back,” Jonathan insisted, paying the bill as well before standing up and offering her his arm.

“You don’t have to.” Jaden insisted even as she looped her arm through his.

“I want to.” 

And she felt herself go red.

When they reached her hotel, they just stood in front of the doors for a bit.

“Can I kiss you or would that be moving too quickly?” Jonathan asked, tucking a strand of hair that had escaped behind her ear, leaving his hand cupping her cheek.

“I’ve been waiting for you to kiss me for three years, Jonathan.” Jaden replied, eyes shining and voice nothing but honest.

Jonathan wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him, kissing her sweetly. She moaned into the kiss and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, eagerly returning the kiss and not giving a care in the world that they were close-to-making out right in front of her hotel where any of her teammates could see them.

When they finally separated, she kissed his cheek and walked inside, feeling him watching her until the doors slid shut behind her.

She found most of her team in the hotel bar and wandered over, throwing her arms around Brayden and kissing his cheek, “Thank you.”

“I just wanted you to be happy,” Brayden replied, deciding to mess up her hair to make up for his niceness and sappiness.

As soon as she entered her room, she practically kicked the shoes off and immediately took her dress off. She was heading over to her suitcase to pull her pajamas out when her phone chimed with a text.

“I love you.”

She smiled down at it before responding, “I love you, too.”

Things weren’t automatically going to be perfect with Jonathan but this time they were both going to be putting in the same amount of effort. This time they both wanted this thing to work. And they were both the two most stubborn people Jaden knew.


End file.
